We wish we could brand these ten tasty facts on all of your mid-sections, but we can’t, so we’ll just blog about it instead. So here are a few nuggets about the fest that you may not have heard about yet.
1. Squeeze-Bot, Josh Phillips Folk Festival, Holy Ghost Tent Revival, and Off-the-Wagon Bluegrass Band have all been added to the 2009 festival lineup due to their great efforts in this year’s Last Banjo Standing Contest
2. There will be in-balcony performances by Chicago bluegrass bands The Giving Tree Band and Tangleweed. When the curtain goes down on the big stage at the end of each set, the spotlight goes up on the balcony.
3. ATTENTION EVERYONE: Bring your instruments and join in on the continuous pickin’ circle. You’re all welcome to join in with whatever you’re hittin’ or strummin’. These jam circles will pop up throughout the lobby in between sets on the Jambase.com Pavilion Stage (http://www.congresschicago.com/galleryc/images/o.jpg)
4. There’ll be a smoking lounge that does not require you to leave the building. See what we’ve done here? A huge favor for you, and a huge necessity in making this as close to the true summer festivals we all know and love. Tricky, yes, but awesome and necessary in the Chicago winter.
5. Live art exhibits, merch & food vendors, and causes everywhere you look. Artists will be performing their respective crafts while selling their goods to help raise money for charity. No art form is too obscure, so be ready for some heady sensory input.
6. Improv comedy performances from Second City’s “Cell Camp” (http://cellcamp.blogspot.com/) also in-between sets on the main stage. When the balcony bluegrass s
ubsides, focus your attention back on the stage for this troupe of heathens. They’re funnier than whomever else you’d be talking to at the time, I promise.
7. Door Open at 11am, and music will push on until midnight. Re-entry (going outside and coming back in) is allowed until 5pm, after which you have to stay inside and enjoy yourself instead of cutting out to get high in your car every five minutes.
8. There’ll be some costume-clad marching bands parading through the event at opportune times. I expect it to be as cool as that Nick Cannon movie that came out years back. If you’re in a marching band or know someone in one, have them e-mail me at michael.raspatello@gmail.com, because the more the merrier.
9. There’ll be an after-party at the one and only ELBO ROOM, with free admission for those with a festival ticket-stub. The music at the after party will go until 3am and performers will be from the festival lineup and be announced at the show throughout the day.
10. And if you pay attention to only one thing we bring to your attention, let it be the amazing work of the The Saving Tiny Hearts Society (www.savingtinyhearts.org)
BONUS: If you like wasting time on the internet like the rest of humanity, check out the 50 Worst Billboard #1 Hits of All-Time
